Penis Envy Photograph

I am fascinated by the effect that the internet has upon our everyday lives, it allows us to access images and information directly, they are availible to anyone at any time. I take what is considered "˜taboo' and use them as a means of further exploration - a platform - on purely artistic terms whilst accepting the moral properties they already hold. I transform the thoughts I have of such images and combine them visually with a painterly expression of the experience of modern society, responding through colour, materials and shape. Process itself has become an integral part of my work. I cull random images from the internet, which I see as a kind of contemporary wilderness and develop them into hand drawn illustrations. I then "˜copy-and-paste' sections from different illustrations onto MDF, which form the basis of the painting. I transform and abstract the drawings through the use of paint (acrylic and house paint), pencils, pens, and crayons. The handling of paint is influenced by many art movements and references the history of painting throughout the 20th and 21st century, either aesthetically or through process.